Jack Parkman

Parkman's thoughts: 1. I cannot nor will not root for the Cubs under any circumstances whatsoever. There are 27 other teams I'd root for before them. The only team on a level playing field with the Cubs in terms of most despised baseball teams is the Twins. Never Cubs. Never Twins. 2. JR=Dollar Bill for all intents and purposes. I'm going to leave temporarily, but my heart is always with the Sox. I'll pay attention from afar, maybe catch a game or two on TV, but they are no longer a "must watch or listen" team anymore. I'm too broke to waste any of my hard earned money on them, so you won't be seeing me at a game anytime soon. When new ownership comes, I'll come back, should they stay in town. I have other things I'd much rather do in the Summer anyway. 630PM-dusk is the best time to fish, and I love to fish. 3. I never expected this rebuild to fail, but now I kind of hope it fails spectacularly , just so Hahn and Kenny look like the fools they are. I have emotionally divested myself from any of the players on the team. 4. This team continues to straddle the line between being a mid market club and a small market club. Pick a lane and do it right. If they do it right MAYBE I'll come back before Jerry croaks. 5. I'm just going to enjoy good baseball players, and not have any allegiances until JR is 6 feet under. I love baseball too much to give it up completely. I will always be a Cub and Twin hater. 6. I reserve the right to change my mind should they sign Harper. I don't believe that this FO has either the cajones or the brains to get it done though.

Everything that could go wrong, has for the most part. The best laid plans of mice and men....... Regardless of whether it was bad luck, poor scouting and player development, or both, there is no end in sight to the losing. This is and pretty much always has been a loser franchise. One can only hope new ownership can make it a phoenix similar to the Blackhawks, should they remain in Chicago.

FIFY

My thoughts exactly. Nice post.

I think I said this in a different thread: They are symbols of the FO's failure this offseason, and ignorant fans are likely to take it out on them. If JR cares about them as a human, he'll release Jay and Hahn will look for a trade partner for Alonso asap. The money shouldn't matter, because it isn't fair to them to subject them to ignorant fan vitriol for something that wasn't their fault. Neither player should come east with the team.

Dunn? Dunn was a good dude too, but it doesn't change the fact that he sucked on the field.

It all depends on what the directive from ownership was. If neither are fired this season, that means that JR wasn't serious and there is really nothing Hahn and Kenny could do about it.

Nah Jaime Navarro, sure. At least that guy only cost money. Tatis/Shields could be one of the worst trades in baseball history.

So true. Do you want to know what is sad? Throughout the whole ordeal I had little faith they'd get him. I thought the FO was lying to us. I'm not bragging that I was right, I'm just really disappointed that my skepticism was 100% warranted.

No. Harper or Bust. Keuchel/Kimbrel would be putting band-aids on a bullet wound.

Yes. The biggest way to hit their pocketbook is to decline to go to games and purchase merchandise.

The highest I've seen on him is 65 hit and most places have him as 60 hit/35 power. The lack of walks also concerns me.

It is incredibly similar. Especially B. Wirtz/Pulford=JR/KW=MR/Paxon. Pulford didn't get whacked until Dollar Bill was near the end.

I wouldn't either. I'm going to try to find a secondary team to follow this year while biding my time until the JR kicks the bucket. I've already had a somewhat secondary rooting interest in the Red Sox for years, so I'm just going to transfer most of my time there. I will be back when new ownership is in place, and KW/Hahn are gone.

Those were under the old rules. They're doing the Lance Broadway/Kyle McCulloch shit again but it is taking a different form.

There are times to be conservative and there are times to take risks. It all depends on who is on the board. They never take a fucking risk. Last year was the perfect example. They had a chance to take a risk on Liberatore and they blew it by taking the "safe" pick in Madrigal. Same thing in 2017 with Burger.

I don't disagree at all. Just trying to lighten up the mood. If we're all at zero faith on this (I think that is pretty much the consensus) then we need to treat JR like he's Bill Wirtz. Watch on TV, sure. But don't go to games or buy merchandise. If new ownership ever comes in and does it right, we need to embrace them like the city embraced the Hawks during their turnaround.

They're still way to fucking conservative in the draft for my liking. The more things change, the more they stay the same. I had hoped that Sale taught them a lesson about taking calculated risks in the draft but I guess not.

Way to burst my bubble dude. I give up then.

For a bit of positivity on this day of negativity: If the Sox really aren't going to be players on the FA market they need to spend less money on the team and take the ~30M or whatever they were going to spend on Machado or Harper and pour it into scouting, analytics, the international market and player development. Go be the Rays or A's. If you want to be that type of team, do it right.

I hope they would, but I doubt it. It seems JR is content going down the Bill Wirtz road. Good Luck Jerry. Way to go from the most successful owner in town to the most villainous in 15 years.

If that happens, sayonara until new ownership.

I hope Sox marketing is reading this forum, and is on the phone with JR alarming him of the impending shitstorm that is about to occur. Sox fans are about to swear off the team a la Dollar Bill Wirtz/Blackhawks. If he's ok with that, it is up to him but I hope he doesn't want that. He's done a hell of a job alienating his most loyal fans. He should be on the phone with Boras personally trying to save face......otherwise be prepared for attendance figures in the hundreds instead of thousands for the foreseeable future.

Both guys won't be on the market next year. Think again. I'm pretty sure they're both going to re-sign with their current teams. I have a feeling that most, if not all, of the top guys for 2020 are going to re-sign to avoid this bullshit and protect themselves in case of a lockout.

I put the minimum on Harper at 10/330. At the very least he has to beat Stanton. If you're management and you give even a half of a shit, let alone two, about maintaining a fanbase in Chicago, you call up Boras and offer that right now. Otherwise, just start loading the moving vans now and making preparations for a move to Charlotte or Portland in 2025. If they don't get Harper they will have completely alienated their fanbase and Jerry might as well have gone full Bill Wirtz. Believe me, you don't want to go Full Bill Wirtz, JR.